Quirky but comfortable motel attracts tourists

HOLBROOK, Ariz. -- Most kids likely would jump at the chance to sleep in a giant teepee in Indian country out West, even if its a concrete imitation serving as a quirky motel room.

And, yes, there are plenty of adults -- with or without kids -- drawn to the romance of the Old West and Historic Route 66 who'd rather bunk at the Wigwam Motel than yet another chain motel.

Especially when it's here on the banks of the Little Colorado River in northeastern Arizona's high plateau country, with the nearby Navajo and Hopi reservations offering unique attractions such as ceremonial dances and Indian arts and crafts. Nearby are the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest National Park with petrified logs displaying an array of colors. To the north are canyons containing cliff-dwellings, such as those found in Canyon de Chelly.

The bright, white, cone-shaped structures of the Wigwam Motel with its red zigzag designs stand tall against Arizona's wide-open desert sky. It's a throwback to 1950s kitsch and a time when family road trips every summer were the norm.

"When you drive up and see the place, it gives you the giggles," says Patty Gegenheimer of Truckee, Calif., a recent guest at the Wigwam. "And when you're inside, you're actually in the shape of a teepee. It's just pure fun."

Whether they've read about the Wigwam Motel in a travel guidebook or happened upon it while cruising along Historic Route 66, many road-trippers can't resist the opportunity to check in.

A sign at the motel's entrance asks, "Have you slept in a wigwam lately?"

More than likely, the answer is no -- especially since a wigwam is a kind of traditional American Indian home that is actually dome-shaped, not teepee-shaped. But that makes no difference to road-trippers. You couldn't get this much personality in a run-of-the-mill motel.

The motel opened in the summer of 1950 and except for some repainting and dusting it has remained exactly the same, down to the original log pole furniture and American Indian decor in each room, says John Lewis, whose father, Chester E. Lewis, built the motel.

Classic cars in almost perfect condition are parked in front of the 16 teepees, which are arranged in a semicircle facing what's now called Hopi Road.

"It gives you a chance to reminisce on what it was like to travel back in the 1950s and 1960s," Gegenheimer says.

Surprisingly, this roadside oddity isn't the only one of it's kind.

The Wigwam Motel in Holbrook was the sixth of seven teepee motels known as Wigwam Villages built across the country.

Frank Redford built the first Wigwam Village in Horse Cave, Ky. and patented his idea in 1936. When Chester Lewis saw the motel, he tracked down Redford and bought the plans and blueprints from him for his own motel in Holbrook.

The other five motels sprang up in New Orleans, Orlando, Fla.; Birmingham, Ala.; Rialto, Calif. and Cave City, Ky. Only the motels in Cave City, Rialto and Holbrook are still open.

After Interstate 40 bypassed Route 66 in Holbrook, traffic through the small town significantly decreased and the Wigwam Motel closed in 1974. Chester Lewis died in 1986.

The family, which operates the motel out of love for the place, renovated and reopened it in 1988. A night's stay at the Wigwam costs about $40.

"We felt it was our obligation to reopen it to the public," says Lewis, who runs the motel with his sister, Elinor Lewis.